Mark Leslie is a writer, editor and bookseller who lives in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2005, Mark joined the blogging bandwagon and started posting random thoughts and musings on writing, bookselling and being a father.

I love the city of Halifax and haven't been here since a little over three years ago. (Okay, I was back in the area a couple of years ago, but drove past Halifax on the way to Hubbards, a beautiful community on St. Margarets Bay)

It was wonderful to be back. Halifax is a gorgeous city to walk around, and this time, the weather (a bit seasonably warmer than normal for mid Sept), was glorious.

I attended the pre-event reception on Friday night, getting a chance to mingle with other writers, including hanging out with Nicola R. White. Then, on the walk back to my hotel, I took a slight detour to check out the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site. It was, of course, closed, but the fog that had rolled in off the ocean created a delightfully eerie view, and I marveled in it as I walked quietly through the dark fog.

The Word on the Street itself, which is a single full day of bookish goodness, was wonderful. I had the chance to mingle and chat with wonderful publishers, authors and booksellers, and even ran into my old friend and fellow horror and ghost-story writer, Steve Vernon.

For my author appearance, I shared the stage with another Dundurn author, Lorna Poplak, author of Drop Dead: A Horrible History of Hanging in Canada for a session called "Dark Tales." Lorna's book is fascinating, and the readings and talk she did on it were stellar. I also think that our books and the things we discussed were quite complimentary and over-lapped nicely.

Below are a few pictures of WOTS Halifax as well as the absolutely beautiful Halifax Central Public Library location (where it was held).

After WOTS was over I had the chance to do some more walking around. This time I sought out the Victoria General Hospital where I did a Facebook Live video sharing one of the stories from Haunted Hospitals about the ghost of the Old Grey Nun, and then proceeded to explore a few of the newer wonderful breweries that Halifax has to offer.

In all, a wonderful trip filled with bookish delights and wonderful Halifax sights.

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About Me

Mark Leslie (Lefebvre) is a Canadian author of speculative fiction and paranormal non-fiction, a bookseller and an advocate for books, eBooks and digital technology within publishing. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.